Soonicorn Ventures Gets SEBI Nod To Launch INR 250 Cr Angel Fund

Gurugram-based investment tech platform Soonicorn Ventures has received the green light from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch an angel fund, which will operate as a Category-I Alternate Investment Fund (AIF). 

With a total corpus set at INR 250 Cr, it also has an additional INR 250 Cr green-shoe option, bringing the total fund capacity to INR 500 Cr.

The fund plans to back early-stage startups across sectors like drone technology, B2B SaaS, electric vehicles, fintech, supply chain logistics, among others.

The fund plans to invest in startups at the seed to Series A stages, with ticket size ranging from INR 50 Lakh to INR 4 Cr.

CA Vijay Singh Rathore, CEO and cofounder of Soonicorn Ventures, said that the platform had set a target of building a portfolio of 30 startups this year, which it has already achieved in less than eight months despite a funding winter.

“With the introduction of this Angel Fund, we aim to provide more flexibility to investors and facilitate single cap-table entries for startups. Additionally, we will assist syndicates in utilising fund-as-a-service,” said Rathore.

From the outset, Soonicorn Ventures’ vision was to create a community of High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs), Venture Capital Funds, family offices, and angel networks. 

“We are delighted to host a community of over 2,000 investors, and this number continues to grow organically. For investors, the SV platform is free to join, with no annual membership fees, making it easy for them to explore investment opportunities and diversify their portfolios,” added Rathore.

Founded in 2022 by Rathore and CA Pravesh Goel, Soonicorn Ventures has backed startups such as Zypp Electric, Zingbus, SupplyNote, Skylark, Cusmat, and Savart, among others. Recently, it participated in the $2.25 Mn Series A funding round of SupplyNote.

Soonicorn Ventures’ said that besides funding, the company will also be engaged with its portfolio startups in helping them with mentorship and global networking opportunities. 

It claims that the platform’s angel investors also collaborate closely with the founders, offering expertise in technology, marketing, and other areas of business development.

Despite the startup ecosystem battling with a severe funding winter since last year, in the recent past, there have been several fund launches – largely catering to the early stage startups. According to Inc42 analysis, over 38% (20) of the funds announced this year (52) are focussed on early stage startups.

Earlier today, early-stage B2B SaaS-focused Pentathlon Ventures announced the launch of its second fund with a target corpus of INR 450 Cr. Similarly, early-stage fund house Unicorn India Ventures also announced the first close of its INR 1,000 Cr fund III at INR 225 Cr.

Recently, gradCapital launched its $6 Mn second fund to invest in student startups.

In July, Micro VC fund CapFort Ventures also launched an INR 200 Cr tech fund to invest in 40 startups in the next two years.

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